Brexit and the Trump presidency are making people ask whether the current form of democracy is the best we can do. By Joe Humphreys. As published on The Irish Times What’s happening to our democracies? Donald Trump’s presidential-election victory in the United States, after a bitter campaign characterised by deceitful and incendiary rhetoric, is not...Continue reading
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Sick of politics: Ten charts that show why Donald Trump and Brexit could happen in Australia
By Matthew Knott. Sydney Morning Herald. 20 December 2016. Australians’ satisfaction with democracy has collapsed to its lowest level since the Whitlam dismissal, according to a major study that shows the country in an increasingly dark and distrustful mood about politics and the economy. The survey, conducted by the Australian National University, portrays a...
Luca Belgiorno-Nettis on 702 ABC Sydney.
newDemocracy Founding Director, Luca Belgiorno-Nettis, in conversation with Robbie Buck.
The greatest underused asset in politics is people; ignore them at your peril. Luca Belgiorno-Nettis
Conventional wisdom holds that the common sense of everyday people finds its voice in elections, and referendums. However, it’s apparent that political campaigns are banal popularity contests at best, and toxic, divisive, ideological battlegrounds at worst. The French philosopher Emil Cioran said: “Ideas should be neutral, yet man animates these ideas with passions and follies,...Continue reading
Luca Belgiorno-Nettis. The greatest underused asset in politics is people; ignore them at your peril.
Conventional wisdom holds that the common sense of everyday people finds its voice in elections, and referendums. However, it’s apparent that political campaigns are banal popularity contests at best, and toxic, divisive, ideological battlegrounds at worst. The French philosopher Emil Cioran said: “Ideas should be neutral, yet man animates these ideas with passions and follies,...Continue reading
Lyn Carson. From audience democracy to wisdom-for-the-whole
Closing remarks to Strasbourg’s World Forum for Democracy 2016, by “an interloper from Down Under.” On this day of all days (the election of Donald Trump to the presidency of the United States), it’s good to note that this is a World Forum for Democracy, not a forum for representative government, that unfortunate system that...Continue reading
The Conversation: City calls on jury of its citizens to deliberate on Melbourne’s future
A participating community is a thoughtful community, it is a purposeful community.– Kate Auty, ACT Commissioner for Sustainability and the Environment and City of Melbourne Ambassador In a political landscape where trust has been eroded and the public are for the most part disengaged and disillusioned, it is refreshing to see state and local governments...Continue reading
Iain Walker discusses the offer from NDF to donate $5m to let citizens reform democracy
Iain Walker, Executive Director of the newDemocracy Foundation, chats with Tom Elliott on 3AW Radio Melbourne. The subject is the proposed donation by the newDemocracy Foundation for a Citizens’ Convention to let citizens reform democracy.
Local Government Victoria – Democracy in Geelong (2016)
Geelong Citizens’ Jury Final Report | Victorian Government Response to Citizens’ Jury Final Report In April 2016 the State Government acted on the recommendation of an independent Commission of Inquiry and dismissed the Greater Geelong City Council, and committed to consult the community about its local governance model before the next council election....
The Guardian. The People Trying to Save Democracy from Itself
by Patric Chalmers, The Guardian, Saturday 2 July 2016 These are difficult days for democracy. European nations struggle to elect governments on low turnouts. Populists wielding half-truths go from strength to strength. Facts are a devalued currency, personalities never more important. People use ballot boxes to bloody the noses of the political elite. Young people...